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We are the soul of a newspaper. Not just any newspaper. We are the soul of the Toronto Sun from back in the day when it was the tabloid everyone in Toronto talked about. We are the people who helped make it happen. Sadly, most of us are long gone from the Sun. Many are now deceased. But when we were all a part of the Sun, as it was, it was a vibrant, kick ass paper that captured the impossible dream.

3 comments:

Example from today: Steve Jobs death - the Sun stole a portrait of Steve Jobs (yes, every web site in the world stole this same iconic picture). The photo was never a media handout.

The picture history of Jobs was mangled. The pictures and dates were messed up. Didn't anyone at the Sun think it was a bit odd that, according to the Sun, Jobs got younger as time passed? Didn't anyone notice that, according to the Sun, Jobs announced certain products many years before they were even invented?

Why did the Sun only steal comments from Twitter? Who cares what a C-list actor thinks about Steve Jobs? What about comment from Jobs' biological father (who was just in the news last month)?

Couldn't the Sun be bothered to get any local reaction? What did Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis think? What about comment from the computer museum? What about comment from that local computer store which has its own collection of Mac computers from 1984-2011? What about Apple's long-time business partner, *Canadian* company ATI (now owned by AMD)? What about that guy who lives six blocks from the Sun and the inside of his condo is decorated to resemble an Apple store? What about the Ontario Science Centre which was built upon the first Mac computer and it still utilizes those exact same computers today? (Truth be told, those old Mac computers are used today more due to lack of funds than to a dedication to Apple. Ask why Apple refuses to donate anything to the Science Centre).

Won't bother mentioning the front page disaster or the page 2 rip-off from the Toronto Star.

re: Wow anonymous. I would love to read your story on the passing of Steve Jobs!!!!!

Rather than do the obvious obit-style article, my story would be about the man who inspired the Steve Jobs we know (knew). Parallel the life of this man with the life of Steve Jobs. Despite the several decades of difference between them and the difference in technology, the two were quite similar. I'd also parallel the audiences (customers) for each man's company. Times change, technology changes, but people don't. I'd end with the two people who could be the next "Steve Jobs" type of person, (no, not Zuckerberg, the Google guys, or any existing Apple exec. Who was Jobs mentoring?)

The newspaper's choices were:

(i) do the required but boring obit that just lists the facts and the "greatest hits" of the deceased person. This is the fast and cheap way; or

(ii) write about the life behind the life. Not everything has to be literal and linear. Readers aren't stupid. Try to interest the public, create some sense of wonder, do something unexpected. After all, that's what Steve Jobs did while working at Apple.

The Toronto Sun Family: 1971 - 2016

Current and former Sun Media employees, this blog is for you. We'd like to hear your feelings about the Sun, pro or con, your experiences and if no longer with Sun Media, what you are doing today. There is no "I" in Toronto Sun Family. Just "we."